1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refrigerator, more particularly, to a thawing apparatus for a refrigerator.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, such a refrigerator having a thawing apparatus includes a separative thawing or multi-purpose chamber 70 arranged between a freezing chamber 100 and a cooling chamber 200, as shown in FIG. 1.
A heater 72 is disposed at an upper side of the thawing chamber 70 and a thawing fan 74 is provided at a rear side of the thawing chamber 70 and functions to circulate a heat generated by the heater 72.
An evaporator 76 is disposed between the freezing chamber 100 and the thawing chamber 70 to cool an air introduced. That is, the evaporator 76 cools the air by using a refrigerant which is compressed by a compressor 78 and circulated in the refrigerator. In this case, the air is increased in temperature by passing through the freezing and cooling chambers 100 and 200 and then introduced into the evaporator 76 through inlet orifices 80 and 82. The air cooled by the evaporator 76 flows into a cooled air path 86 upon the operation of a fan member 84 and simultaneously flows into a guide channel 88 through a cooled air orifice 92a which is controlled to be close and open by a damper 90.
The air introduced in the cooled air path 86 is supplied to the freezing chamber 100 through a cooled air orifice 92b, while the cooled air introduced in the guide channel 88 is supplied to the cooling chamber 200 through multiple cooled air orifices 94a to 94c.
A thawing damper 96 serves to control the cooled air introduced in the guide channel 88 from being passed though a cooled air orifice 98.
In the construction of such a refrigerator described above, when the thawing chamber 70 is used as a general-purpose cooling chamber or special-purpose chamber, the cooled air orifice 98 is opened by the thawing damper 96 so as to supply the cooled air in the guide channel 88 into the thawing chamber 70.
Alternatively, when using the thawing chamber 70 for the purpose of thawing frozen foods the cooled air orifice 98 is closed and then a power supply voltage is applied to operate the heater 72 and the thawing fan 74.
Accordingly, the heater 72 is heated and, hence, the heat produced from the heater 72 is circulated within the thawing chamber 70 by the thawing fan 74.
With such a refrigerator thus constructed, however, the thawing fan and the thawing damper are essentially needed, so a construction is complicated and thereby a manufacturing cost for the product is increased undesirably.